TeGGY_LS

i went ahead and check my plugs today, tips are white..... if i remember correctly, im running lean
all 4 of the plugs came out white, i also think i read somewhere that if all 4 are white than it usually is the fuel filter and if 1 or 2 are bad than it is usually dirty injectors? do you guys have any input on this?

PS. and the cars exhaust has recently gotten really loud, started about 2 days ago while i was on the highway, when i exited off the car seemed louder than usually at idle and when i hit the gas its even louder, dont understand because its a stock oem exhaust that was quiet till about 2 days ago... does running lean have anything to do with this?

thanks in advance, HT

94EG8

have you got any pics? what sort of white are we talking here? white insulators or are there white deposits on the plugs?

TeGGY_LS

white deposits... sorry no pics
dont have a digicam, it recently broke, took pics with my phone but they are not even worth posting

94EG8

White deposits can idicate a blown headgasket, but i wouldn't get all paniky yet. Are you loosing any coolant? Is there coolant being pushed out into the resorvoir? Any smoke?

TeGGY_LS

the car is actually running fine, no smoke or anything....its just loud and the plugs have some white deposits and the heaviest being from cylinder 1....

94EG8

only other things i can think of are ash deposits, from excessive fuel and or oil additives, or plug is too hot, caused by wrong heat range plug used, over advanced ignition timing, lean fuel mixture, vacuum leaks sticking valves and insufficiant engine cooling. most of that is straight out of the back of a haynes manual. I will say my civic still ran fine with a bad headgasket, no noticable smoke, worked great, but it had deposits on the plugs and it took coolant.

Crx Jimmy

its normal, the car runs lean at idle(when there is no load), unless the motor is shut off during a pull it should look light. search plug chop on the google machine

austinkli

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Crx Jimmy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">its normal, the car runs lean at idle(when there is no load), unless the motor is shut off during a pull it should look light. search plug chop on the google machine</TD></TR></TABLE>

i don't really think it is NORMAL to run lean at all times. only on a cold start.

OP: i would check your timing, fuel filter, i doubt that coincidentally all 4 injectors are bad at the same time. also, as 94eg8 said, this happened when i had a blown headgasket.

TeGGY_LS

the car actually runs fine.... wouldnt a blown head gasket make the car run irradically or even not run at all?

na+b18c_hatch

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TeGGY_LS &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the car actually runs fine.... wouldnt a blown head gasket make the car run irradically or even not run at all?</TD></TR></TABLE>

possibly.. but you'd have some smoke too.

white spark plug tips are usually indicative of a lean-running motor.

TeGGY_LS

so if my car is running lean, as long as its not running bad.... then i have nothing to worry about or will this lead to something?

i changed my plugs yesterday again... prolly check them later tonight or tommarow and see what they look like.

but the actuall noise level of the car went back to normal right after i changed out the plugs... but after about 20miiles of driving it got loud again???
im might also try to change out the fuel filter this weekend too..
hmmmm..

austinkli

will specifically the car running lean hurt it? not immediately or really bad. it will affect your gas mileage and what not though. i'd still get it fixed if i were you.

TeGGY_LS

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by austinkli &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">will specifically the car running lean hurt it? not immediately or really bad. it will affect your gas mileage and what not though. i'd still get it fixed if i were you. </TD></TR></TABLE>

any advice as to where to start?
already did the spark plugs, wires.

prolly should do
1. fuel filter
2. PCV valve
3. ?
4. ?

thanks for all the help HT, much appreciated